“So we are,” laughed Walter. “That’s the first time I ever forgot about a ball game, but I certainly would like to have that skin. Dan, shall we try for any more pickerel?”
“That’s for you to say.”
Walter hesitated a moment before he said: “I’m sure I could get some more. It’s just the right time of day, and now that I’ve learned just how to land the big fellows—— You needn’t laugh,” he broke in abruptly as a trace of a smile appeared on Dan’s face. “Didn’t I play this last pickerel I caught all right? It didn’t get away anyhow.”
“No, it didn’t because it couldn’t.”
“Why did you keep telling me not to give it any slack then? If there wasn’t any danger of losing it what difference did it make what I did?”
“I couldn’t see then how well it was hooked.”
“It was hooked all right.”
“It certainly was. A yoke of oxen might have hauled it ashore and there wouldn’t have been a chance for the pickerel.”
“Well, it’s a beauty anyway,” said Walter proudly as he glanced down at the great fish on the bottom of the skiff. “What will it weigh, Dan?”